An employee works as a speech-language pathologist in a large, metropolitan school district, traveling between two elementary schools and a high school. After giving birth, she requests a private space for lactation within each assigned school. The school district agrees, but the private space it provides to her in the high school was on a different floor than her work area.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Does it matter where you place an employee’s lactation space? (tl;dr: yes.)
An employee works as a speech-language pathologist in a large, metropolitan school district, traveling between two elementary schools and a high school. After giving birth, she requests a private space for lactation within each assigned school. The school district agrees, but the private space it provides to her in the high school was on a different floor than her work area.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, November 28, 2023
This case perfectly illustrates religious accommodations post-Groff
Elimelech Shmi Hebrew is a devout follower of the Hebrew Nation, a religion that requires its followers to keep their hair and beard long — a vow he has kept for over two decades.
Hebrew applies for a job as a corrections officer with DCJ. What wins out — Hebrew's religion or DCJ's grooming policy?
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, November 20, 2023
Craft beer isn’t facing an apocalypse … but the industry is changing
The tragic breaking point for major brewery closures is no longer "coming soon." It's a macabre event that has been framed as something perpetually on the horizon for years, but there's no use in denying it anymore–the great die-off is here. It's now. The culling of the herd is underway in 2023, and simply making great beer is no guarantee of survival.
I wholeheartedly disagree. I do not believe that craft beer is facing an "apocalypse."
So, what does this mean for our industry?
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Friday, November 17, 2023
WIRTW #696: the “thankful” edition
Next week we celebrate Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday of the year. There will be turkey, stuffing, wine, and as many pies as there will be people at our feast (which, for the record, is 32 at last count).
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
Do you understand the rules for paying employees for commuting time?
A technician claims her employer owes her pay for time spent traveling to the office to pick up materials on the way to the airport for a flight to visit a customer. According to the employee, the employer only begins paying at the departure time of the scheduled flight.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, November 15, 2023
The most metal employment law update ever!
Two of the most famous bands in the history of heavy metal are each facing lawsuits from former tour workers.
The family of a Kiss guitar tech, who died while quarantining in 2021 after contracting Covid while on tour with the band, is suing the band for wrongful death. According to a prior investigation by Rolling Stone, Kiss allegedly maintained lax Covid protocols on the tour in question — including a lack of testing and lots of crew members falling ill — that contributed to the roadie's death.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, November 14, 2023
If you’re going to change an employee’s time sheet, make sure it’s an accurate change
🟩 LEGAL: Disciplining or firing a non-exempt employee who works unauthorized overtime.
🟩 LEGAL: Altering a non-exempt employee's time sheet so that it accurately reflects the actual number of hours worked.
🟥 ILLEGAL: Altering a non-exempt employee's time sheet to reflect a flat 40 hours per work week, no matter how many hours the employee actually worked.
A lawsuit recently filed against Liberty University will test each of these legal principles.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Friday, November 10, 2023
WIRTW #695: the “cover” edition
Earlier this week, I used the song "Pass the Kutchie" to illustrate Ohio's new recreational marijuana law. Some commenters were quick to point out that the song is called "Pass the Dutchie," not "Pass the Kutchie." Except it's not. "Pass the Kutchie" is a 1981 Jamaican reggae song by the Mighty Diamonds about Rastafarian cannabis pipes. One year later, Musical Youth covered that song and made it famous. Because they were all children, however, they replaced the song’s drug slang with “dutchie,” a food reference.
Coincidentally, this week the AV Club published lists of the 25 best and 25 worst cover songs of all time. All of this got me thinking about my favorite cover songs. Here are my top 5:
- The White Stripes "Jolene"
- Sinead O’Connor — "Nothing Compares 2 U"
- Johnny Cash — "Hurt"
- Janis Joplin — "Me and Bobby McGee"
- Talking Heads — "Take Me to the River"
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Ohio voters decide to pass the kutchie on the left hand side
By a margin of 57% to 43%, voters legalized recreational marijuana. As a result, recreational cannabis will become legal in the Buckeye State on December 7, 2023.
Employers have lots of questions about how to handle this change. Here are answers to the top 5 questions I anticipate receiving over the coming days, weeks, and months.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, November 7, 2023
DEI programs continue to be a lawsuit target
Major League Baseball. NASCAR. Starbucks. McDonald’s. Morgan Stanley, American, United and Southwest Airlines. America First Legal, a conservative group led by Stephen Miller, has targeted each of these for their “illegal” practices of hiring non-Whites and females.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, November 6, 2023
Your business is not a charity
Your customers are not your bank. It’s not their job to bail you out from poor business decisions.
Here’s the Cliffs Notes version of what’s happened.
From 2015 - 2019, R. Shea was a small local brewery. In 2019, it opened a much larger, 60,000 square-foot second location, which enabled it to significantly expand its production and operations. That expansion, however, also included a vast expansion of its debt, to the tune of a $2 million SBA loan. A combination of the lingering impacts of Covid, rising wages and production costs, and skyrocketing interest rates have created a situation in which R. Shea in now unable to service that debt.
As a result, it just launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise … wait for it … $2.3 million. Thus far, it’s raised approximately $17,000.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Friday, November 3, 2023
WIRTW #694: the “trick-or-treat” edition
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Thursday, November 2, 2023
Maybe don’t forge texts if you want to win a lawsuit?
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Does your workplace have a written AI policy?
The White House has unveiled the first-ever executive order on artificial intelligence (AI).
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, October 30, 2023
NLRB publishes (yet another) new joint employment rule
If at first (or second, or third…) you don't succeed, try, try again. That certainly seems to be the NLRB's mantra as it relates to its joint employment rule.
Joint employment is when one employer is responsible for the legal sins of another because of a commonality of employees. Under the standard newly announced by the NLRB, an entity may be considered a joint employer of a group of employees if each entity has an employment relationship with the employees and they share or codetermine one or more of the employees' following terms and conditions of employment:
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Friday, October 27, 2023
WIRTW #693: the “tough out” edition
If you've been following along these past few weeks with the trials of the Lake Ridge Academy soccer team, I have some sad news to share. Earlier this week they fell 2-0 in the district semifinals to a quality opponent, ending their season. It was a hard-fought match, scoreless for 65 minutes. There were lots of tears in my car after the game. The team set a goal, of which they fell a couple of games short. That said, it was the best soccer season this team has had in 15 years.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, October 26, 2023
Workplace harassment and employee assistance programs
Is it legal under the ADA to mandate that an employee accused of sexual harassment use the company's employee assistance program? That's the question being asked in a lawsuit the EEOC just filed against Weis Markets.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Do politics and work mix? A poll.
Do politics and work mix? That is the question being asked at Copper Blue Restaurant.
A half-dozen employees recently quit in protest after the owner posted a "Vote NO on Issue 1" sign in front of the restaurant. The resulting staffing shortage forced its temporary closure.
Issue 1 is a Nov. 7 ballot initiative that seeks to amend the Ohio's Constitution to grant women the right to an abortion.
Not surprisingly, the issue is polarizing.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Kickbacks are bad
It's one thing to settle an unpaid overtime claim; it's another entirely to shake down your employees to repay the settlement funds to you.
Following a DOL investigation, Sparklean agreed to pay unpaid overtime back wages to its employees. Shortly thereafter, it began demanding kickbacks from its employees to compensate for the overtime settlement, submitted false receipts to showing that it paid the recovered wages, and threatened workers for exercising their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
As a result, the DOL went to court and obtained a $281,870 judgment, which included $87,735 in back wages, $94,135 in liquidated damages, and an additional $100,000 in punitive damages.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, October 23, 2023
Is this what the future of union organizing looks like?
Last week, the employees of Creature Comforts Brewing Co. voted by a margin of 32-21 to reject the Brewing Union of Georgia as their bargaining representative and for their workplace to remain union-free. The National Labor Relations Board conducted and supervised the secret-ballot election, and the result presumes to reflect the choice of Creature Comforts' employees.
Except maybe that secret-ballot election is not the choice of Creature Comforts' employees?
I fully expect BUG to file a petition with the NLRB seeking a Cemex bargaining order. What is a Cemex bargaining order, you ask?
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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